Video store girl recommended PARANORMAN to me yesterday, saying that as a Horror fan I'd like it, but I didn't pull the trigger on it (I've got like 5 movies out already). I'm not a big animation guy, but I'm intrigued enough by its reputation (I know Devin digged) to pick it up next time I'm in. I was a big fan of the annimated horror/comedy MONSTER HOUSE back in the day.

PARANORMAN might very well be my favourite 2012 film, so I think you're in for a treat. It's simply tremendous, heartfelt and oozing with love for the genre. The scares are, of course, lightweight, but the film never pulls its punches, underestimating what a young audience can take - Joe Dante would be proud.

Due to my enjoyment of the movie Grave Encounters (which follows a similar plot in many regards), I decided to watch Reel Evil today.

The movie follows a small group of documentary makers hired to film the behind-the-scenes segment of a horror movie in production. The horror movie itself is filming at a notorious abandoned hospital for the criminally insane although, when one of the film crew is asked why they didn't just film on a set seeing as all of the props were brought into the hospital anyway, no explanation is given. No explanation is ever given for this, in fact.

Repeatedly met with rudeness and indifference on the set, our documentary crew – which consists of presenter Kennedy, James the camera guy (who looks a lot like Daniel Radcliffe during TheWoman In Black), and horny sound guy Cory – decide to look around the rest of the hospital. We are then treated to roughly forty minutes of stupidity and doors slamming by themselves, as though this were some kind of Paranormal Activity spin-off. The typical conversation (which repeats throughout these forty minutes) is along the lines of:

James: “This is creeping me out. Let’s go back.”

Cory; “Yeah.”

Kennedy: “This is obviously an elaborate prank that’s being played on us. Let’s walk around some dark corridors some more.”

James: “I’m too scared to go back on my own so okay.”

Cory: “Yeah.”

The last segment of the movie is filled with effects that are actually worse than those you find on amateur Youtube videos called “Real Ghost Sighting!” where someone had used Photoshop to make their friends’ face elongate. All of the deaths in the movie occur off-screen. The ending itself is an insult.

There are three pairs of naked boobs in this movie. On a similar note, I feel a complete boob for wasting my time with this thing. AVOID.

Due to my enjoyment of the movie Grave Encounters (which follows a similar plot in many regards), I decided to watch Reel Evil today.

The movie follows a small group of documentary makers hired to film the behind-the-scenes segment of a horror movie in production. The horror movie itself is filming at a notorious abandoned hospital for the criminally insane although, when one of the film crew is asked why they didn't just film on a set seeing as all of the props were brought into the hospital anyway, no explanation is given. No explanation is ever given for this, in fact.

Repeatedly met with rudeness and indifference on the set, our documentary crew – which consists of presenter Kennedy, James the camera guy (who looks a lot like Daniel Radcliffe during TheWoman In Black), and horny sound guy Cory – decide to look around the rest of the hospital. We are then treated to roughly forty minutes of stupidity and doors slamming by themselves, as though this were some kind of Paranormal Activity spin-off. The typical conversation (which repeats throughout these forty minutes) is along the lines of:

James: “This is creeping me out. Let’s go back.”

Cory; “Yeah.”

Kennedy: “This is obviously an elaborate prank that’s being played on us. Let’s walk around some dark corridors some more.”

James: “I’m too scared to go back on my own so okay.”

Cory: “Yeah.”

The last segment of the movie is filled with effects that are actually worse than those you find on amateur Youtube videos called “Real Ghost Sighting!” where someone had used Photoshop to make their friends’ face elongate. All of the deaths in the movie occur off-screen. The ending itself is an insult.

There are three pairs of naked boobs in this movie. On a similar note, I feel a complete boob for wasting my time with this thing. AVOID.

That's about what it is. It takes an hour to get where it's going, which is somewhere you've seen before. There's no satisfying trippy idea behind the Corridor, not really. A lot of implication that doesn't much matter. The real problem is the cast and the talky dialogue don't mesh well. I can't tell which let the other one down more, but it doesn't work.

Saw KILL LIST last night. Starts out more like a riff on Cassavetes than Horror, but goes to dark and strange places. Its uncomfortable effectiveness has a chance of earning it a place alongside the British Horror classics of the past. I strongly recommend.

KILL LIST is great, unfortunately my viewing suffered a bit since I happened to see it a couple of weeks after watching a certain other movie that is almost identical. I'm sure most people here know what I'm talking about. Still, it's a definite horror classic if only because it's actually disturbing.

- I have seen what no one has ever seen: I have seen Hausu. (Old in-joke, for newcomers.)

- Think I Netflixed up Lake Mungo about a year ago since most folks here seemed to dig it. I dug it.

- Kinda bummed nobody took me up on my rec of the Soska Sisters' Dead Hooker in a Trunk, although I recommended it way before it had gotten any kind of DVD release. (It's been out for about a year now.) Anyway, the Soskas have been touring around with their second effort, American Mary, starring Katharine (Ginger Snaps) Isabelle, which I'm dying to see; anyone catch it at one fest or another?

- Kinda bummed nobody took me up on my rec of the Soska Sisters' Dead Hooker in a Trunk, although I recommended it way before it had gotten any kind of DVD release. (It's been out for about a year now.) Anyway, the Soskas have been touring around with their second effort, American Mary, starring Katharine (Ginger Snaps) Isabelle, which I'm dying to see; anyone catch it at one fest or another?

Must have missed your post about Dead Hooker In A Trunk (I'm relatively new to this thread) but, after looking at IMDb and seeing that there's a character called "1989 The Cunt", I'm going to go back and read it!

Anybody seen the Spanish Horror film starring Clive Owen, INTRUDERS? (directed by the guy who did 28 WEEKS LATER) A blog i read recently recommended it. And I just saw the trailer in front of BERNIE, and it looked pretty cool.

Anybody seen the Spanish Horror film starring Clive Owen, INTRUDERS? (directed by the guy who did 28 WEEKS LATER) A blog i read recently recommended it. And I just saw the trailer in front of BERNIE, and it looked pretty cool.

*Puts hand up* I've seen it! It has some good points (the monster is interesting, the connection between the two narratives which run parallel throughout the movie is quite good, and Clive Owen is really great) but there's a lack of decent scares and some parts fall a bit flat in their execution. You won't regret watching it but you probably won't add it to any "Best Of..." lists either.

Last night I watched the Jennifer Lynch horror/thriller Chained. I have to admit that I have a predilection for movies involving serial killers (“It rubs the lotion on its skin”) and I’m an unofficial member of the Vincent D’onofrio fanclub so I was already incredibly biased toward this one. Chained tells the story of a young boy who is orphaned when his mother accepts a ride from D’onofrio’s murderous taxi driver. The boy is kept alive by the killer, renamed “Rabbit” and informed that he must follow a set of specific rules including cleaning up the blood and gore from his captor’s murder sessions.

I quite liked this. The two main actors do a great job in their roles, especially D’onofrio who rightly won an award according to IMDb. I’ve always been a fan of the way in which D’onofrio adapts like a chameleon for each of his roles whether it’s a goofy alien in Men In Black, Orson Welles in Ed Wood or the overweight marine of Full Metal Jacket, and his performance here doesn’t disappoint. Lynch’s direction, whilst never flashy, is more than adequate for the subject matter with a lot of the story’s power drawn from what the audience doesn’t see (the majority of D’onofrio’s kills are performed off-screen accompanied by the sounds of violence and terror; the camera lingering on Rabbit’s expression in another room). I’ve heard there are similarities between this and Bereavement but I haven’t seen that movie and so I can’t comment.

The movie has a stage-like quality to it, due to the fact that very few scenes take place beyond the confines of the house where Rabbit is chained. There are also some interesting questions posed by the screenplay as to whether a child can be raised to become a serial killer, although Chained ultimately falters in the final scenes. Whilst it isn’t enough to damage the scenes which came beforehand, the ending did make me roll my eyes and wish that it had been edited away. Still, as it stands, I think Chained is worth the time of anyone who enjoys movies which explore the darker corners of human nature.

Hell yeah, Red Lights is terrible. Only Weaver and Jones make the thing remotely bearable, and even then it's still at the lower end of mainstream thrillers.

While nowhere near as bad as that, recent recent british Blair Witch knock off A Night in the Woods is also misable. It may have been scary if the script didn't insist that the three main leads were so horrible, you barely care what happened to them. And I say that as a man who is easily spooked by dark forests late at night where the film is mostly set.

I did however enjoy another British genre piece, the SAW on a plane Panic Button. Just a good fun little thriller (think SAW1 not the more torture based sequels) highlighted by Joshua Richards's velvet voiced villain who remains offscreen, and while the characters are basically a-holes, there's plenty of charm to go around. Not essential but a fun night's viewing.

As I slog thru them show by show, is there any particular episodes that stand out in your collective minds?

I had to look up the title but there's one called "Death Of Some Salesman" (Season 5) which sticks in my mind, not because it was terribly scary but because it features Tim Curry playing an entire family - including two women!

I'm finally getting around to SOUND OF MY VOICE and BLACK SWAN tonight. Both have a bit of Horror to them, right? (Going in pretty much blind on both)

Never did watch black swan due to it being about dance and a girl having a mental breakdown. Sound of my Voice is actually really great..........mostly. It really depends on how you feel about the ending I think. Although according to the film makers the ending doesn't actually matter because it's about the main character's journey much more so than the plot and it's hard for me to argue otherwise. Still keep in mind it was always planned as a trilogy.

Carnival of Sinners (1943)"At the same time that Jacques Tourneur was shooting The Cat People (1943) for Val Lewton in America, his father, cinema legend Maurice Tourneur, was busy in France making this exquisitely shadowy twist on both Faust and The Monkey's Paw. Pierre Fresnay plays an unsuccessful, lonely painter who purchases a severed human hand that, the seller promises, will make his dreams come true. At first, Pierre revels in his newfound success and the female attention that comes with it, but after a visit from the devil himself--more of an accountant in this incarnation--he learns he must dispose of the hand before he dies to escape Satan's clutches. As fine a piece of visually dazzling grotesquery as you're likely to see, this one wraps up with a poignant finale as the devil puts the painter on trial, forcing him to face the other tragic owners of the hand. Aside from the work of Lewton and a handful of other filmmakers, Hollywood horror was stagnating in the 1940s, which is another reason why this flight of Gothic fancy is so much fun."

I watched Carnival of Sinners this past Halloween, off of TCM. It was simply amazing, Sharp writing, acting, and the sets were gorgeous. I always wonder how films like this get overlooked all these years, but I'm never amazed to constantly be finding them, all the same.

Didn't Rare Exports* feel like a really nice fireplace tale, but perhaps not one with much replay value?

That's fair, for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevehauk

At some one's recommendation (or was it warning) my Christmas viewing included Silent Night 2012.

Thank the gods for fast forward..

The general opinion I have heard is that you should stick with the original, which is what I'll be doing. Sure, the 80's film is rather goofy but overall it's actually effective and has plenty of creepy as hell moments. What you said further persuaded me not to watch the remake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joshua Miller
The problem with RARE EXPORTS is that it is only the first 2/3s of a film. The first 2/3s of a great film I thought, but it ends so quickly, just when it is getting really strange and interesting, that it is hard to not walk away from it underwhelmed or disappointed.

That is also a fair thing to say. I mean, I heard so much praise for it for the past two plus years and when I finally saw it I was hoping it'd be great but when it was less than that...

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevehauk
recommendation:

Cockneys VS Zombies.

I looked it up and I was shocked to see in the cast Honor Blackman; yes, Pussy Galore is in the film! I had no idea she still acted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris Myers

Nothing to be embarrassed about, it's a fine horror flick. The first is undoubtly the best; 2 is delightfully weird, 3 is shit, and 4 is even worse, but at least it has the best McConaughey performance besides Magic Mike.

I know I have mentioned it elsewhere but I don't know if I have in this thread or not... the original is still awesome, and when I finally saw two I thought it was more shitty and seemed way too long than anything else. There were moments for sure but also plenty of stupidity and the tone wasn't expected and maybe I'd rate it higher on another view... and since then I did pick up the unrated DVD so I can finally watch it that way. Still, I thought that 3 was better than 2, which I know throughout the years is an opinion few share. That's OK with me. Ken Foree was awesome and so was Viggo Mortensen. I've never seen the others in the series and after what I heard about 3D I have a feeling I won't see it even out of curiosity's sake.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrSaxon
Due to my enjoyment of the movie Grave Encounters (which follows a similar plot in many regards), I decided to watch Reel Evil today.

On a similar note, I feel a complete boob for wasting my time with this thing. AVOID.

How could it fail with such a title? OK, that's too much of me being a smart-ass but I am amazed that Full Moon is a thing in 2013.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Martin Blank

So, been reading this whole entire thread over the past few days. Fun stuff.

- I have seen what no one has ever seen: I have seen Hausu. (Old in-joke, for newcomers.)

Good reference. Yes it was nice to go through the entire thread awhile back; I should have done it much sooner.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

Anybody seen the Spanish Horror film starring Clive Owen, INTRUDERS?

That distinctive image on the poster makes it hard to forget the movie, but I have never seen it and the majority seems to say that I should keep it that way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis
In Harry's DVD column he recommends the 'girl horror' of JACK & DIANE. (starring rising star Juno Temple) Any of y'all catch that one?

I heard about it on other sites and of course they all make the expected Mellencamp jokes. I never actually read a review of it once it came out. Of course it's not always a sign of quality but after more than 500 votes on IMDb it only has a 3.9 rating. I do laugh that the Jack of the title is actually a girl and it's Riley Keough, i.e. Elvis's granddaughter. I have a feeling the song is better than the film.

Last night and today I finally watched an appropriate movie for this thread; it was one I had seen often since a kid and thankfully it's still fuckin' awesome as an adult... pardon my French. Yep, I watched Tremors. It is still a tremendous B-movie ride with plenty of humor, and funny humor at that. Someone I know has that in a collection along with the three direct to video sequels, and one of these years I should watch them; maybe with lowered expectations they might be worthwhile.

Last night I signed up for a month of free Hulu Plus due to recently getting an Xbox 360; I'll likely watch some older horror via that and that'll give me something to talk about.

Never did watch black swan due to it being about dance and a girl having a mental breakdown.

It's mainly about obsession; Aronofsky picked dance as the milieu, but it could be about anything, really, with minor tweaks here and there.

It's just a great movie. A great movie can probably be about almost anything and with great acting, script, directing, it will still be riveting - I actively disdain soccer and really loved The Damned United and am mildly positive about rugby and really loved Invictus - mainly because both are just great movies and the sport involved is almost incidental to what the movie is doing.

I would like to extend my gratitude to Mr. Fat Elvis for pointing me to Rupert Pupkin Speaks, which is awesome and kinda reminds me of the salad days of Weldon's Psychotronic. Much thanks and, as the kids say, "mad props" to Fat Elvis. He may not, however, fuck my sister. I think it's a rule around here that if anyone points you to a cool blog they get to do sex on your sister and I ain't havin' it

That's entitled 'Dig That Cat...He's Real Gone', and it is indeed a series highlight.

Me and Ripoll did a series of front page articles on Tales From the Crypt a little while ago. Only made it about halfway through the show, sadly (They're all still available through the search - the column was titled Exhumed - if you're curious). The best episodes, in my opinion, were Carrion Death, a spaghetti western pastiche starring Kyle Maclachlan, Split Second, a ultra sexist lumberjack noir, and Cutting Cards, the Lance Henrikson high stakes gambling story. [/pimp]

It's mainly about obsession; Aronofsky picked dance as the milieu, but it could be about anything, really, with minor tweaks here and there.

It's just a great movie. A great movie can probably be about almost anything and with great acting, script, directing, it will still be riveting - I actively disdain soccer and really loved The Damned United and am mildly positive about rugby and really loved Invictus - mainly because both are just great movies and the sport involved is almost incidental to what the movie is doing.

I actually agree with you because I like Rounders but I don't give a fuck about cards. So let me put it to you this way. Im sure this means im stupid but it's really hard for me to get into movies where everything is happening in someone's head. I don't really like dreams or hullucinations. Whenever they get to the end of a movie and it was a dream or a split personality im just done with it. So knowing that all of the things she sees are just ya know....her kinda ruins it for me. That kind of psychological horror just does nothing for me im afraid which sucks because I know everyone loved black swan.

I actually agree with you because I like Rounders but I don't give a fuck about cards. So let me put it to you this way. Im sure this means im stupid but it's really hard for me to get into movies where everything is happening in someone's head. I don't really like dreams or hullucinations. Whenever they get to the end of a movie and it was a dream or a split personality im just done with it. So knowing that all of the things she sees are just ya know....her kinda ruins it for me. That kind of psychological horror just does nothing for me im afraid which sucks because I know everyone loved black swan.

I'd still say give it a shot - there's actually one moment where my friends and I are still debating "Okay, THIS stuff was obviously in her head....but did THAT THING actually happen?"

Man, in front of DJANGO there was a trailer for a laughably bad Feb. movie called DARK SKIES. I started giggling when Kerri Russell started banging her head against the sliding glass door because of alien possesion or some such nonsense. So cheesy!

Man, in front of DJANGO there was a trailer for a laughably bad Feb. movie called DARK SKIES. I started giggling when Kerri Russell started banging her head against the sliding glass door because of alien possesion or some such nonsense. So cheesy!

And from the director of Legion and Priest, no less!

Speaking of upcoming horror, what films are you guys & gals looking forward to in the genre in 2013? Theatrical, VOD/DTV, etc. I want it all! Tell me what sounds good that has been shot already, is being shot, or likely will be shot and released by the end of the year. I'm gearing up to increase my horror coverage for the main site this year and I want your input. What looks like it could be worth a damn in 2013?

I'll be doing my best to review new films (be they 2013 releases or little seen 2011/2012 ones just hitting home video) all year long, but there WILL be films that I miss. I'll be paying close attention to everything in here, so if there is a new flick out there that you feel deserves attention......never hesitate to let me know about it here or via PM. Same goes for crap that I shouldn't waste my time on. While I will inevitably seeing shitty new horror (we all do) and covering it to warn others, I want the primary focus outside of news to be on films that are worthy of attention. There is a fantastic community of horror fans alive and well in this wonderful thread, but I think the ole CC section deserves even more attention. Let's get the Creature Corner forums crawling again more than you all already have and I'll do my absolute best to back it up with regular "front page" content.

Has there been any word on You're Next lately. It played Fantastic Fest like two years ago, was yanked after only one or two of it's showings, and then that was it. I haven't heard anything else but praise from almost everyone who saw it. I thought it would be released sometime last year, but no go. I haven't even seen a trailer.

Has there been any word on You're Next lately. It played Fantastic Fest like two years ago, was yanked after only one or two of it's showings, and then that was it. I haven't heard anything else but praise from almost everyone who saw it. I thought it would be released sometime last year, but no go. I haven't even seen a trailer.